Professional Experience:
My professional background is varied and would be best described as a clear demonstration of versatility and initiative. Community safe-guarding and development was one of the most common themes throughout my work experiences. When working for the residence life staff of my university I was assigned a community of 30 students to supervise, counsel and to guide throughout the difficult times that can be a first-year in a university. This meant organizing community-building events that ranged from sports tournaments to educational-oriented social events. The community was strong and, as a result of my satisfaction reviews, I was awarded Residence Life Staff of the Year Award. Similarly on the residence council these organizational skills were required in order to cater to a larger community. This was a non-paid position on the council that administered residence affairs on a campus wide-scale. Hence more managerial and administrative skills were required. The crowning achievement of such position was my appointment as the residence formal coordinator; this being a campus-wide social event with a large budget and several people who were working under my supervision. The formal was a clear success and was praised by the Dean himself who attended the event. In complete antithesis with the University environment, my role as an NGO worker in southern India preceding my university career was another key part to my experience. My primary function was that of an English and geography teacher for classes ranging from 6th to 10th grade. This meant independently preparing both lessons and homework for classes of up to 60 children. The curriculum goals were met and surpassed during my stay; the NGO founder commended me for my alternate more interactive approach to teaching. Furthermore initiative was another key aspect of my role at Care and Share India; during the drought that was affecting the area, I personally took charge of the local relief efforts by employing two of the tractors that the organization had at a time. This meant coordinating with the local community to send the water cisterns to the most critically affected areas. The ability to adapt and over-come such challenges which, until then, I had never experienced the likes of, was by far my greatest achievement. This theme was also reflected in my research assistant position at the University of Hong Kong where I was hired to conduct research in fields outside of my degree’s expertise. As much it was a pleasure to transform what was until then a hobby of mine into a job, extensive atmospheric data analysis of Saturn’s Moon Titan, was with no doubt another difficult challenge. However, as said initially, being able to be versatile enough to adapt and take on such a challenge remains one of my strongest qualities from a professional standpoint. When combined with my organizational, managerial and initiative qualities acquired through the described experience, I believe I can be a formidable choice.